From November 6 to 9, Arts et Métiers engineering students Arts et Métiers Rubika design students worked together on an intensive project: two days at Rubika and two days on the Lille campus. It was an opportunity to discover complementary professions with a similar goal: creating relevant and effective objects.
Arts et Métiers engineers Arts et Métiers trained to take a technological approach to an object. Conversely, designers take a creative approach. Based on this observation, the teamsArts et Métiers Rubika, a higher education institution specializing in industrial design in Valenciennes, decided to organize a creative challenge for their students.
More than 45 design students, 36 third-year engineering students, and six students from the ColRobot Specialized Master's program took part in an intensive week: After a day of presentations on design, robotics, conception and manufacturing, and composite materials, the students had four days to develop innovative solutions.
Two themes were chosen by the teaching teams: light mobility and robotics. The first involved proposing a light mobility solution for the last two kilometers traveled by a professional specializing in a service activity; the second involved proposing a flexible handling solution that could potentially be used in robotics.
The teams, made up of students from the ColRobot Specialized Master's program, Arts et Métiers engineering students Arts et Métiers Land Transport or Mechatronic Systems, and design students, were able to work together. Among the projects that impressed the teaching staff was a trolley designed for private nurses in the city. "Based on the observation that nurses in the city had parking problems, the team designed a fully equipped trolley for traveling the few kilometers between two patients: storage of equipment, refrigerated compartment, etc.," explain the teachers responsible for the project.
Another theme, another innovation: the produce robot. "This time, the team sought to optimize the placement of fruits and vegetables on shelves by sorting them according to ripeness. They came up with a robot that helps prevent waste," explains Olivier Thomas, a design teacher.
Where Arts et Métiers engineering students Arts et Métiers with the technology, design students worked on the user experience—different but complementary approaches.